


Asphodel

by orphan_account



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 13:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavroche and Éponine meet at the barricade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Asphodel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RhiannonSilverflame (throughtosunrise)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/throughtosunrise/gifts).



Gavroche was proud of himself; almost everyone had told him to stay away from the barricade, that it was too dangerous for a child, but he showed them. If it weren’t for Gavroche, who knows what would have happened — maybe that inspector would have turned on them, or maybe he would have kept his head down and let the others be taken by surprise. It hardly mattered anymore. He could have outsmarted the students, but Gavroche could outsmart him.

He was sitting off to the side, perched on a table with a smile on his face, watching Courfeyrac and Bahorel tie the inspector to a post in the tavern. Engrossed in his own gaiety, he did not notice the boy who had snuck up on him from behind until he harshly grabbed Gavroche’s elbow.

“Get away from here,” the boy hissed, his voice quiet and angry yet softer than Gavroche expected. His tattered clothing set him apart from the others at the barricade. He looked much younger than them too, at least from what Gavroche could see; he was wearing a cap that he had pulled low, obscuring most of his face.

Gavroche tried to wrench his arm away, but it was being held too tightly. “Leave me alone. I saved you.”

“You’ll die,” the boy said, and Gavroche widened his eyes at the tone of pleading that came through.

“You’ll die too,” Gavroche replied after a moment, “and you can’t be much older than me. They need me here.” He gave another tug and pulled his arm free before jumping down from the table and following after Courfeyrac as he left the tavern.

  


He kept to the side throughout the fighting. He couldn’t just run and hide, couldn’t prove everyone right about him, couldn’t appear weak, not now. He climbed around the barricade, fitting into small gaps, shooting whenever he could. He tried to keep an eye on the others — everyone was so far unharmed, but there was a soldier with his gun pointed at Marius that Marius did not seem to notice.

“Marius!” Gavroche called. “Marius, watch out!”

He seemed not to have heard him at all; Gavroche squeezed his eyes shut, covering his ears with his arms. He didn’t want to have to hear anyone die. He counted to ten, taking a few deep, slow breaths before opening his eyes and looking back up at Marius, his head still swimming.

Marius was still standing, unharmed; perhaps he had heard Gavroche after all. He was holding a keg under one of his arms and holding a torch in his opposite hand. The world seemed to have stopped; an eerie silence hung over the barricade as everyone stared, wide-eyed and fearful, at Marius. He was saying something to one of the soldiers, but Gavroche’s head was spinning too much to make out the words. But then the soldiers were retreating, and Marius climbed down from the top of the barricade, looking just as dazed as Gavroche felt.

Assured the danger was at least temporarily over, Gavroche crawled back into a nook in the barricade, again taking slow, measured breaths, over and over, until he could think again.

“Gavroche?”

Gavroche peered out of his hiding place and saw Courfeyrac wandering around, looking for him. Gavroche took one more deep breath before hopping down onto the ground. “I’m here,” he said, as brightly as he could.

A sigh of relief washed over Courfeyrac’s face, and it would have annoyed Gavroche at any other time. “Are you unharmed?”

“I’m out of bullets.”

Courfeyrac gave him a forced smile. “We'll try to get you more," he promised, before walking away and joining the others.

Gavroche began wandering around the space behind the barricade, trying to make sure nobody had been hurt. Enjolras and Combeferre were talking amongst themselves in quiet but fast voices about something Gavroche didn't really understand; Grantaire was drinking; Courfeyrac and the others were hurrying about, fixing the barricade where it had been damaged and making an inventory of their weapons.

It was a few minutes before he found Marius, sitting around the corner of the Musain with his back against the bricks and an all-but-lifeless body in his arms. Upon closer inspection, he identified the body as that of the boy who had grabbed his arm and urged him to leave.

"Éponine," he heard Marius say softly, and Gavroche's stomach dropped. "I'm here. I'm not going to leave you."

He froze. Surely it couldn’t be his sister; what would she be doing at the barricade? But it was hardly a common name, and Gavroche found the soft voice in which she replied to Marius all too familiar. Had she recognized him? Was that why she had urged him to leave?

Marius was looking down at her with a look of grief Gavroche had never seen before, and Éponine’s clothes were soaked with blood. His stomach dropped again as he realized she was dying. He felt the urge to say something, to tell Éponine he loved her or missed her or that he would stay safe, but her expression gave him pause. She looked peaceful, she looked happy; Gavroche couldn't remember ever seeing her smile like that. Wrapped in Marius's arms, she looked like she was exactly where she wanted to be.

They hadn’t been close; they shared blood and a last name, but little else. She was happy now, she would die happier than Gavroche suspected she lived; what right did he have to take that away from her? Éponine was scarcely more than a stranger to him.

He realized he was not the only one watching; several others were standing around with somber faces, watching Marius and Éponine. Gavroche could not bring himself to look away, even as Éponine’s laboured breathing stopped and Gavroche watched the last bit of life leave her body. Several of the students stepped forward, gently lifting her out of Marius’s arms and carrying her away from the barricade.

Dazed, he turned back toward the barricade, climbing into a small gap he had found earlier. He closed his eyes as he felt a sense of overwhelming emptiness wash over him. She was his sister, after all, but Gavroche felt emptiness instead of sorrow. If anything, the guilt he felt over his lack of grief was stronger than the grief itself. He tried to summon a fond memory of her, some shared experience that would remind him that they were family and might make him miss her, but failed to come up with anything. He felt guilty for giving up, but she had given up on him so easily too; Gavroche wondered if anything other than a vague sense of obligation made Éponine warn him to stay away.

On some level, he supposed he was happy she died the way she did, cradled in the arms of someone she seemed to care about. Despite the distance between them, he wished her no ill will, and was grateful Marius had been there to look after her in her last few moments. He had probably meant a lot more to her than Gavroche had, and Marius did a better job soothing her than he would have.

He closed his eyes again, only opening them when he heard a voice call his name softly. He  turned and saw Marius peering into the small hole inside the barricade he had been hiding in.

“Will you do something for me?” Marius asked, his voice low and thick with emotion.

Gavroche gave a short nod. “For you, anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> My recipient wanted something that explored the weird relationship between the Thénardier siblings, so this is what I came up with.
> 
> Asphodel because rain will make the flowers grow etc sorry


End file.
